Automatic coin register



March 10, 1931. McCQLL ET AL 1,795,342

AUTOMATIC COIN REGISTER Filed Dec. 1, 1928 Patented Mar. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PETER MCCOLL AND EDWARD J. MCCORMICK, OF ST. JAMES, MANITOBA, CANADA AUTOMATIC COIN REGISTER Application filed December 1, 1928, Serial No. 323,021, and in Canada October 8, 1928.

The invention relates to automatic coin registers and an object of the invention is to provide a device particularly adapted for use on childrens savings or household banks and 5 which will visibly indicate the total amount of money in the bank, the device automatically registering each coin as it is deposited in the bank.

A further object of the invention is to con- 10 struct the device in a simple, durable and inexpensive manner and such that the pressure of the entering coin operates the indicating pointer or pointers to register the amount of money in the bank at that time.

With the above more important and other minor objects in view which will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side view of the device.

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view at 33 Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the applied arrow a.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view at 33 Figure 2 and looking in 30 the direction of the applied arrow 6.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view at 55 Figure 3.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view at 66 Figure 3.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the operating lever.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of some of the interior parts.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The coin register can be embodied as the upper part of a childs savings bank and the bank can be made of any fanciful shape. We

45 have herein shown the coin register as located in the upper part of a bank which is shown as a rectangular metallic box 1, the lower part of which receives and stores the inserted coins and the upper part of which is utilized as a receiving casing for the working parts of the register. The box is longitudinally divided by a horizontal partition 2 to provide a mechanism receiving compartment 3 and a coin containing compartment 4. The partition stops short of the front end of the box to provide an opening 5 for the coins to escape into the compartment 4. The forward end of the partition is provided with a downwardly hanging pivoted gate 6 which in the upending of the box is adapted to prevent the passage of the coins back out through the opening 5 should a child try to get the entered coins out of the bank, and it also prevents the coins from getting into the working parts of the registering device.

In the upper compartment we locate a cross shaft 7 on which we pivotally mount an operating lever 8, the said lever having the forward end thereof provided with a plurality of spaced fingers 9, 10 and 11, the fingers being separated by intervening slots 12 and 13. The lower end of the lever terminates in an up turned catch or hook 14.

To the forward end of the partition 2 we secure upstanding spaced pairs of guide walls 15 and 16, each pair of guide walls receiving freely th-erebetween one of the fingers, the arrangement being such, that when one or other of the fingers is depressed all the fingers move down between the guide walls. Actually the guide walls prevent the coins placed on the fingers from escaping sideways when the coins are being placed in the bank by the depression of the finger by the coin.

Vertical cross partitions 17 extend upwardly from the partition 2 as shown best in Figure 6. The top of the box is provided in the present instance with three entry slots 18, 19, and 20 all of unequal length and situated above the underlying fingers. The coins inserted in the bank are passed through the slots and have their lower edges brought into engagement with the fingers, the arrangement being such that when the coin is shoved down through the slot it will depress the finger on which it rests a predetermined amount and so raise the hooked end of the lever a desired amount.

The slot 18 is of a length to admit a twenty-five cent piece, and it will be observed that in the normal non operating position of the lever, the finger 9 underlying the slot is virtually horizontal, the arrangement being such, that when a twenty-five cent piece is passed edge on through the slot 18 and rests on the finger 9 then is subsequently forced down to pass the said coin wholly through the slot, the distance which the said finger 9 is depressed will cause sufficient movement of the hooked end of the lever to actuate a mechanism later described and swing a poin er over five graduations on a scale to indicate twenty-five cents.

The slot 20 is of a length such that it will admit a large five cent piece and the arrangement is such that when the fin 'er 11 is fully down pressed by the large live cent piece, the hooked end of the lever will have travelled up a distance so that the pointer before mentioned will travel a distance equal to one graduation of the scale and indicate five cents deposited.

The slot 19 is adapted to admit a small live cent piece or a ten cent piece and the arrangement of the finger 10 is such that when the small five cent piece is pressed fully down, the said finger will ve travelled a distance sufiicient to have caused the hooked end of the lever to displace the indicating pointer a distance equal to one graduation and indi cate five cents, and so that when a ten cent piece is inserted and pressed down, the hooked end of the lever will travel upwardly twice as far as just described and consequently cause the indicating pointer to pass over two gr? duations and indicate ten cents.

The, mechanism actuated by the hooked end of the lever is now described. A substantia ly rectangular frame 21 is rotatably mounted on a spindle 22 carried by the side walls of the box, and this frame carries a cross pin 23 which is engageab with the hooked end of the lever, the arrangement be ing such that when the hook is rotated upwardly the forward end of the frame moves upwardlv therewith. The pin carrying end of the frame is normally held down by the action of a spiral spring 2% having one end fastened to the box and the other end at tached to the frame, and the down movement of the hooked end of the lever under the influence of the pin is limited by a stop 25 secured to the partition 2.

To the spindle, we permanently fasten a ratchet wheel 26 having a predetermined number of ratchet teeth, the number of teeth in the present instance being twenty, and the pin 23 carries pivotallv a dog 2' which is spring pressed towards the ratchet wheel and engages one or other of the teeth thereof. According to the arrangement the upswinging of the hooked end of the lever will swing the pin 23 upwardly and in so doing will cause the ratchet wheel to be rotated by the dog one or more tooth displacements depending on the length of swing given the lever. The exterior of the box is provided with a graduated scale 28 positioned concentric to the spindle 22, and the scale has equally spaced graduation marks thereon which have the numbers 0, 5, 10, 15, etc, up to 95 opposing them which numbers indicate an equal amount of money deposited in the bank.

The spindle is provided with a pointer 29 rotating therewith and operating over the scale, and in accordance with the preceding description, when a twenty-five cent piece is forced through the slot 18 the movement transmitted to the lever is such that the ratchet wheel is rotated five teeth displacements and the pointer moving an equal amount will pass over five of the graduation marks of he scaleand indicate twenty-five cents deposited. Similarly the putting in to the bank of a large five cent piece through the slot 20 will cause the movement of the pointer from one graduation to the next to indicate five cents deposited, and ten cents passer through the slot 19 will actuate the lever suti ient to cause the ratchet wheel to move two teeth displacements and register ten ce on the graduated scale. The depositing of a small five cent piece through the slot 19 will only move the lever an amount to cause the pointer to move one graduation and indicate five cents.

l/Ve might here point out that the free ends of the fingers are shaped so tiat a coin will clear 05 the forward end of the fingers and escape down through the passage 5 into the bottom compartment 4 after it has been fully depressed through the slot by the finger, and

that after each coin has been deposited in the bank the lever resets in the normal position as shown in Figure 3 v under the influence of the spring 24 which is continuously pressing the pin 23, engaging with the lever, downwardly. i

The spindle 22 is positively held against retrograde movement by the action of a spring catch 36 secured to the bottom of the box and engaging the ratchet wheel. A trip lever 31 is secured to the spindle and is adapted to engage once each revolution with a toothed wheel 31 rotatably mounted within the box and having ten teeth thereon, and the toothed wheel 31 is continuously meshed with a further toothed wheel 32 having also ten teeth, which latter wheel is secured to the inner end of a sleeve 33 rotatably mounted on the shaft 7 and passing rotatably through the front side of the box and having secured to the front end thereof a second pointer 34:. The pointer 34 operates over a graduated scale 35 on the front of the box, the graduations thereof being equally spaced and having in the present instance the numbers 1 to 10 opposing the-graduations and in arithmetical progression, ing dollars.

such numbers indicat- The arrangement above described is such that when the pointer 29 has made one complete revolution which shows that one dollars worth of coins have been deposited in the box, the pointer 34 will have moved one graduation displacement to carry forward the dolla-r deposit on the second scale 35, and this will he obviously brought about due to the fact that the trip lever rotates one revolution with the pointer 29, and will accordingly turn the wheel 31 one tooth displacement for each revolution of the trip lever and such tooth displacement is visibly indicated by the pointer 34 moving one graduation over its scale.

From the above description it will be apparent that this device is entirely automatic in its action, that is to say, the entering and depressing of the coins effects the setting of the pointers and gives a visible and accurate reading of the amount of money in deposit in the bank.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In a coin register, a casing having a plurality of coin receiving slots of varying length provided in the top thereof and arranged side by side, a pivoted lever extending lengthwise within the casing and having one end provided with spaced fingers having curved extremities, said fingers underlying the slots and operating between vertical guiding walls carried by the casing and the other end of said lever terminating in an up turned catch, a stop engageable with the latter end of the lever and limiting its down swung position, a cross shaft rotatably carried by the casing, a member rotatably mounted on the cross shaft, a pin carried by the member and overlying the catch, spring means engaging with the member and operating to hold the pin against the catch and the catch normally pressed against the stop, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft, a dog pivotally carried by the pin and engaging the ratchet wheel, means for preventing retrograde movement of the ratchet wheel and an indicating pointer associated with the shaft.

2. In a coin register, a casing having a plurality of coin receiving slots of varyinglength provided in the top thereof and arranged side by side, a pivoted lever extending lengthwise within the casing and having one end provided with spaced fingers having curved extremities, said fingers underlying the slots and operating between vertical guiding walls carried by the casing and the other end of said lever terminating in an up turned catch, a stop engageable with the latter end of the lever and limiting its down swung position, a cross shaft rotatably carried by the casing, a substantially rectangular frame rotatably carried by the shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft within the frame, a dog pivotally carried by one of the side members tember, 1928,

PETER MoCOLL. EDWARD J. MCCORMICK. 

